Shake my head...

Sitting in my favorite internet café, I just saw the oddest thing. Bemused, I can only shake my head and chuckle. Ok, so this Thing: An old Asian woman in sweat pants and a sweat shirt and old keds, running up the hill. She was really working it! The funny part is that she had a lit cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth.

I Won a Trip to the Bahamas!

Toiling away in front of my computer, my head full of numbers, my reaction was not quite as enthusisatic as the young man had anticipated when he broke the news to me.

"You have won the St. Patrick's Day Free Trip to the Bahamas Draw!" he jubilantly exclaimed.
"Oh, that's nice", I responded.

For the next half hour he proceeded to list all the things I had won, where I would go, and how many stars each hotel had. He even told me my prize included one other person. So, I could take my boyfriend (My who?).

All I had to do was to pay a 399$ promotional fee for each person going. And I could easily charge it right then and there to my Visa. I could even sell the trip afterwards if I decided not to go.

According to the Better Business Bureau, this is all legal. It is a way companies (such as this one Green-Blue Promotions) get rid of the last remaining seats on package tours. There is always 'just one more thing' to pay. For example, the plane ticket to Florida, from where the cruise was to depart was never mentioned. The taxi ride from the airport to the hotel. That extra night, between when the cruise docks in the Bahamas and when the free **** hotel picks up.

For the first time in my life I won something. And I turned it down.